■ South Korea
Graft probe names officials
Prosecutors broadened their probe into corruption scandals yesterday, apprehending a legislator allied with President Roh Moo-hyun and seeking arrest warrants for seven opposition legislators and the head of South Korea's third-largest conglomerate. The lawmakers faced charges of collecting bribes from businesses or violating political fund laws. Chyung Dai-chul -- a senior member of the Uri Party, which supports Roh -- was taken into custody for questioning by prosecutors yesterday at his home on suspicion of receiving 700 million won (US$583,000) from companies like Daewoo Engineering and Construction Co.
■ South Korea
Embassy receives threats
South Korea tightened security for its embassies and national airlines yesterday after its embassy in Thailand received terror threats. The embassy in Bangkok received a letter on Thursday, in which a group called the "Anti-Korean Interest Agency" threatened attacks on South Korean diplomatic missions and businesses in Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia and other Asian countries. Embassy officials suspect that Thais working illegally in South Korea mailed the letter. "The letter threatens to attack South Korean interests after my government imposed restrictions on illegal workers," said Ryoo Jung-young, an embassy spokesman. He added that the embassy had informed Thai authorities of the threat and that police had been deployed for extra protection.
■ vietnam
Bird flu prompts cull
Vietnam has identified as bird flu a disease that has wiped out hundreds of thousands of poultry, and the government said yesterday it had ordered a culling campaign just weeks before the country's biggest festival. Earlier this week, provincial officials said a fast-spreading disease in the country's south was chicken cholera. The agriculture ministry yesterday dismissed this, saying the preliminary findings were wrong. Further tests would be performed abroad to verify the type of bird flu and to determine if it was a threat to humans. Chicken is widely consumed during Tet.
■ Philippines
Black Christ venerated
Thousands of barefoot devotees jammed a square in downtown Manila yesterday to venerate a centuries-old black statue of Jesus Christ that some Roman Catholics believe holds mystical powers. The Black Nazarene, a wooden life-size statue brought from Mexico by the Spaniards in 1606, is removed every Jan. 9 from the Quaipo church and paraded around the square in front. Thousands of people, mostly men wearing maroon shirts, braved the crowd to press forward in hopes of touching the statue to ask special favors or give thanks for granted ones. Throngs tried to climb the cart carrying the statue, but were pushed back by marshals.
■ China
Dead ringers dupe school
The parents of twin sons in Sichuan Province saved money by pretending they only had one child and sending the boys to school on alternate days, a news report said yesterday. The parents sent one boy to school on even-numbered days of the week and the other on odd-numbered days, the Hong Kong edition of the China Daily reported. Teachers at the preschool classes in the elementary school in Chongqing believed the twins were one boy for six months until the ruse was eventually discovered, the newspaper said.
■ Italy
Anarchists enter bomb fray
Anarchist groups with an anti-globalization agenda are believed to be responsible for a series of parcel bomb attacks on the EU, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said on Thursday, adding that these groups may be about to forge an alliance with Italy's infamous left-wing Red Brigade terrorists. A total of six letters or parcel bombs containing incendiary material and a functioning detonator were sent from Italy to EU figures just before and after New Year's Day. The targets included EU Commission President Romano Prodi and European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet. None of the attacks caused any injuries.
■ The Netherlands
Anti-Semitic attacks rise
Jews in the Netherlands suffered a major rise in anti-Semitic attacks, threats and abuse in 2002 with incidents more than doubling from the previous year, a report on racism said on Thursday. Anti-Semitic attacks, including arson, assault and graffiti, rose to 46 incidents in 2002 from 18 in 2001 despite an overall drop in racist and extreme right-wing violence, the Anne Frank Foundation and Leiden University said. Anti-Semitic attacks in the Netherlands in 2002 included a bomb threat and attacks on property and people, according to statistics from the police and other organizations in the "Monitoring Racism and the Extreme Right" report.
■ Sweden
Assassination trial to open
The trial against the 25-year-old man suspected of murdering Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh last September is due to start next Wednesday, news reports said on Thursday. Judge Goran Nilsson's decision to open proceedings on Jan. 14 with scheduled hearings on Jan. 15 and Jan. 19 was welcomed by the prosecution and the defense, the Swedish news agency TT said. Prosecutor Agneta Blidberg and defense attorney Peter Althin were quoted as saying they would prefer formal proceedings to be held before the court rules on whether or not the suspect, Mijailo Mijailovic, will have to undergo a four-week psychiatric evaluation.
■ Italy
PM gives own CD as gift
What does a man who has everything -- including a wife -- give some 2,000 other women for the New Year? If you're a billionaire prime minister who was once a cruise ship crooner, the choice is obvious -- a CD of your songs. Silvio Berlusconi has given the women who work at the various departments of the prime minister's office a CD of 14 songs he has written, according to a senator and a union leader. The album of ballads called Meglio Una Canzone (Better a Song) features Berlusconi's lyrics sung by Mariano Apicella, a guitar-playing musician he met in a hotel bar in Naples in 2001. The songs include such syrupy lyrics as "Without you my day is empty and my night is sad."
■ United Kingdom
Men tinker, women work
A woman's work is still never done -- official statistics show British men opt for DIY or tinkering with the car while women tackle most of the housework. Women spent an hour and a half more a day than men on cooking, cleaning, washing up and ironing, the Office of National Statistics said on Thursday. "DIY and car maintenance are the only chores that men, in general, spend more time on than women," said the survey.
■ Iran
Man spent weeks in rubble
A 57-year-old man buried by rubble in an earthquake almost two weeks ago was rescued by workers in the southeastern city of Bam, state television news reported on Thursday. The man, who was alert when found but has since slipped into a coma, gave his first name as Jalil. He was said to have come to Bam from a provincial town for medical treatment the day before the quake. Workers said he survived because he had been trapped under a closet, which left him some breathing space. Mehdi Shanoush, an Iranian doctor at the Ukrainian-Iranian field hospital, said he believed Jalil must also have had access to water.
■ United States
Bush tackles Florida again
Unfazed by protesters recalling the recount battle that gave him the presidency in 2000, US President George W. Bush made his first election-year visit to Florida on Thursday and vowed to win the state. Visiting Palm Beach County for the first time since it was a focal point in his disputed 2000 election victory, Bush was served a reminder of the bitter recount battle. "They stole our votes. Palm Beach County remembers," read one of the signs carried by a small group of protesters along Bush's motorcade route into a golf resort for the fund-raiser. Others held a large banner reading: "Jail to the Thief."
■ United States
Space station still leaking
Astronauts will perform another test on Friday to identify the source of a slow loss of air pressure on the International Space Station, NASA said on Thursday. Ground controllers have determined the station has been losing pressure since Dec. 22. Russian astronaut Alexander Kaleri was to test test the system that removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and vents it into space yesterday to see if it has developed problems with its seals. The Russians used the same hardware aboard the Mir space station and learned that it tends to develop leaks as it ages, NASA said.
■ United States
Woman lies about lotto win
A woman who claimed for days that she was the rightful owner of a winning lottery ticket recanted Thursday, admitting at a news conference her story was untrue. Elecia Battle tearfully explained that she lied because she badly wanted to win the Mega Million lottery, which offered a jackpot of US$324 million. "The numbers were so overwhelming," Battle explained. "I did buy a ticket and I lost. I wanted to win so bad for my kids and my family. I apologize." Battle had claimed she bought a ticket with the winning numbers at a Cleveland convenience store, but lost it when she dropped her purse in the parking lot.
■ Israel
Camel recruits die of cold
Legendary desert resilience did little for a herd of camels charged with keeping grass trim at an army base in northern Israel, where they all died of cold. The Maariv newspaper said on Thursday that seven camels caught by the army in the Negev desert last year and posted to the hilly, chilly north had succumbed to exposure. The camels' mission was to graze at the base and thus reduce the risk of brush fires, Maariv said. A military spokeswoman had no immediate comment on the report. Israel's leading animal welfare group said it would file a complaint with police.
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